NEWS

Coker Arboretum to celebrate centennial with activities April 11, 12

CHAPEL HILL -- For 100 years, visitors to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus have had only to walk through Coker Arboretum to see the full majesty of each season in nature.

And as winter loosens its hold and colorful spring emerges, UNC’s N.C. Botanical Garden is planning two days – April 11 and 12 – to celebrate its Coker Arboretum’s centennial. Included in the activities are open house tours, exhibits and a birthday party featuring a tree-planting.

Mary Coker Joslin of Raleigh, an honorary director for the N.C. Botanical Garden Foundation Inc. who has written a biography of her uncle Dr. William Chambers Coker entitled "Essays on William Chambers Coker, Passionate Botanist," will sign copies of her book at the Chapel Hill Museum from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 11.

Coker was the first professor of botany (1902) at UNC, serving the university until he retired in 1944. He was founder and first director of the UNC Herbarium, now the largest in the Southeast. He also was a founding member of the UNC Press board and the author of the first book published by the press. He published 137 articles and books in his career. Twenty-four types of fungi and five vascular plants are named for him.

"He came to the university in 1902, and right away he was reminded that this part of the grounds needed improvement, and he got permission from the president," said Joslin. "He did a lot of the work himself, going out there and working and planting things that would grow. They gave him $10 and one laborer to get started."

Coker was very charming and whimsical as well, Joslin added. "He had whimsical humor and was passionate about plants: collecting plants, finding new ones, bringing them into the arboretum and the campus. He was a fine teacher – he worked alongside his students."

In 1903, Coker began developing a five-acre boggy pasture into an outdoor university classroom for the study of trees, shrubs and vines native to North Carolina. Beginning in the 1920s and through the 1940s, Coker added many East Asian trees and shrubs. Examples of conifers and extensive daffodil and daylily displays are located there, as well.

The April 11 and 12 activities will pay homage to the arboretum – as well as to its founder – said Charlotte Jones-Roe, N.C. Botanical Garden assistant director for development.

"Dr. Coker felt there should be a location for the study of botany on the campus, as well as a place of serenity for students, faculty, staff and townspeople," said Jones-Roe. "He believed that the surrounding landscape made a difference in the way people study and think and felt that a first-class university should have a beautiful campus landscape."

The main event, the centennial birthday party, will be at 2:30 p.m. April 11 in the arboretum. Featured activities will include a tree-planting ceremony and music by the Crown Chamber Brass. Those who wish to meet Coker Arboretum curator Daniel Stern and enjoy tours of the arboretum may come as early as noon. Docents will be stationed throughout the site.

Events on April 11 will include:

· Coffee with the UNC Herbarium curator, 9 a.m. in the UNC Herbarium, fourth floor of Coker Hall. An exhibit on Coker is in the building’s main lobby.

· Centennial birthday party, 2:30 p.m. in the arboretum. Open house tours of the arboretum will begin at noon; docents will be stationed throughout the arboretum to provide information

· A book-signing with Mary Coker Joslin, 4 to 5 p.m. in the Chapel Hill Museum. An exhibit, "Coker Arboretum: The First Hundred Years," that includes originals by local artists for an arboretum-inspired book to be published later in 2003 will be displayed.

· A reception at The Rocks, the home built by William Chambers Coker in 1908, will be hosted by Mary Jane and Woody Burns, Florence and Jim Peacock, and Sally Couch Vilas. Advance reservations are required.

· Dinner at the DuBose House, a fundraiser for the Coker Arboretum Endowment ($150 per person). Advance reservations are required.

Events on April 12 will include:

· The Evelyn McNeill Sims Native Plant Lecture, 10:30 a.m. in the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education. Well-known garden designer and former N.C. Botanical Garden Foundation board member Chip Callaway will discuss "North Carolina Natives – Gardeners and Their Gardens." A "wildflower coffee" social will precede the event; advance registration is required for the social.

· An open house, picnic and book-signing with Mary Coker Joslin, noon at the main visitor site of the N.C. Botanical Garden. Fee for the picnic lunch is $12 per person; advance reservations are required.

All events are free, except where indicated otherwise. Those wishing to attend events requiring advance registration or reservations are asked to respond by April 1.

In addition, four Coker Arboretum-themed, University Libraries-sponsored exhibits will be open throughout the centennial:

· "William Chambers Coker: The Legacy of a Lifelong Botanist," open through April 13 in the Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Room on the third floor of Wilson Library. This exhibit focuses on the life and achievements of Coker. Exhibit hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

· " ‘All the Charms of Nature’: A History of Landscaping at UNC-Chapel Hill" tells that story in photographs and lithographs from 1795 to the present and looks at some plans for the future. This 40-piece display will be up through May in the N.C. Collection Gallery, Wilson Library. Exhibit hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

· Davis Library will offer an exhibit through April 15 on Joslin’s book and the libraries’ venture into publishing. Items will be in the 72-foot display case on the first floor. Davis opens 8 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to midnight Sundays.

· "William C. Coker As Collector of Fungi," in the biology library in Coker Hall, includes photographs, articles about the professor in the 1926 Chapel Hill Weekly, two of Coker's books and information on students he influenced. Coker Hall was named for him. Exhibit hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays

Buses will be available to transport participants from the N.C. Botanical Garden parking lot to April 11’s events on the UNC campus. Those attending should arrive at the lot at least 30 minutes before the event.

More information on the University Libraries exhibits is available by visiting UNC News Release No. 98. For more information on the N.C. Botanical Garden events, click on http://www.ncbg.unc.edu/coker-centennial.htm or call (919) 962-0522.

- 30 -

N.C. Botanical Garden contact: Sandra Brooks-Mathers, (919) 962-0522
News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415